The Soviet Union was formally dissolved and ceased to exist as a sovereign state and subject of international law on 26 December 1991. It also brought an end to the Soviet Union's federal government a
Mikhail Gorbachev in 1987
Anti-Soviet rally of about 250,000 in Lithuania, whose Sąjūdis movement helped restore independence (August 1988)
Environmental concerns over the Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant drove initial demonstrations in Yerevan.
Andrei Sakharov, formerly exiled to Gorky, was elected to the Congress of People's Deputies in March 1989.
Soviet Armed Forces
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The Armed Forces of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, also known as the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union, the Red Army and the Soviet Army, were the armed forces of the Russian SFSR and the Sov
A Red Army parade in Moscow, 1922
A soldier of the Red Army, 1926, wearing the budenovka
A mosaic in the Main Cathedral of the Russian Armed Forces commemorating the Soviet Armed Forces and some of its most important World War II battles – Defense of Brest Fortress, Battle of Smolensk and Battle of Moscow
Soviet war poster, 1941